U.S. patent application number 14/404852 was filed with the patent office on 2015-05-07 for disposable electrical emanation devices.
The applicant listed for this patent is Reckitt & Colman (Overseas Limited). Invention is credited to Adrian Blagg, Avijit Das, Kristian Matthews.
Application Number | 20150125137 14/404852 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 46546189 |
Filed Date | 2015-05-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150125137 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Blagg; Adrian ; et
al. |
May 7, 2015 |
Disposable Electrical Emanation Devices
Abstract
An emanation device is described which comprises a housing
defining a sealed container having a front wall and a rear wall
defining the length and width of the housing and connected to each
other by a top wall, a bottom wall and one or more side walls
defining the depth of the housing, wherein the length and width are
each greater than the depth; one or more vent holes in the housing;
electrical plug pins connected to the rear wall of the housing,
said plug pins being operatively connected to a heating means
located within the interior of the housing; an absorbent pad
containing a quantity of air treatment agent mounted within the
interior of the housing; wherein the pad fills a majority of the
length and width of the housing; and wherein the heating means is
located in connection with or immediately adjacent to a central
portion of the pad on the front face thereof where the front face
of the pad is adjacent the front wall and remote from the face of
the pad facing the rear wall and electrical plug pins.
Inventors: |
Blagg; Adrian; (Hull,
GB) ; Das; Avijit; (Hull, GB) ; Matthews;
Kristian; (Hull, GB) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Reckitt & Colman (Overseas Limited) |
Slough, Berkshire |
|
GB |
|
|
Family ID: |
46546189 |
Appl. No.: |
14/404852 |
Filed: |
November 30, 2014 |
PCT Filed: |
November 30, 2014 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/GB2013/051431 |
371 Date: |
December 1, 2014 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
392/403 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A01M 1/2077 20130101;
A61L 9/03 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
392/403 |
International
Class: |
A61L 9/03 20060101
A61L009/03 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
May 30, 2012 |
GB |
1209607.9 |
Claims
1. An emanation device comprising: a housing defining a sealed
container having a front wall and a rear wall their area defining
length and width of the housing and connected to each other by a
top wall, a bottom wall and one or more side walls defining the
depth of the housing, wherein the length and width are each greater
than the depth; at least one vent hole in each of the top wall, the
bottom wall and the, or each, side wall; electrical plug pins
connected to the rear wall of the housing, said plug pins being
operatively connected to a heating means located within the
interior of the housing; an absorbent pad containing a quantity of
air treatment agent mounted within the interior of the housing;
wherein the pad fills a majority of the length and width of the
housing; and wherein the heating means is located in connection
with or immediately adjacent to a central portion of the pad on the
front face thereof where the front face of the pad is adjacent the
front wall and remote from the face of the pad facing the rear wall
and electrical plug pins.
2. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein the heating
means is in contact with the pad.
3. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein the power
consumption of the device is <2 W.
4. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein the air
treatment agent is a volatile liquid containing one or more of: a
fragrance, a deodorizing material and/or a pest control
material.
5. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein at least a
portion of the pad is in contact with at least one of: the top
wall, the bottom wall and/or the side wall(s).
6. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein the device and
the pad held therewithin is of a four sided shape.
7. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein the pad is
made from melt blown polypropylene.
8. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein the pad is
made from electrical conductive paper with the heating means formed
from inlaid carbon.
9. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein the vent holes
are located such that when the plug pins are located in a mains
electrical socket, the top vent hole(s) is located within the
uppermost 1/3 of the top of the housing, the bottom vent hole(s) is
located within the bottom 1/3 of the bottommost of the housing, and
the side vent hole(s) is located within the nearest 1/3 of the
side(s) of the housing.
10. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein the vent
holes are sized to extend at least 1 mm in any lateral direction
whilst possessing a minimum area of 2 mm.sup.2.
11. An emanation device according to claim 10, wherein no
continuous area of any single vent hole has a radius of greater
than 5 mm.
12. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein edges of the
vent holes have a substantially rounded profile of continuous or
variable curvature
13. An emanation device according to claim 8, wherein one or more
vent holes are provided in the front wall.
14. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein the air
treatment agent contain a dye and the rear wall is transparent or
translucent to provide the device with a visual end of life
mechanism.
15. An emanation device according to claim 1, wherein the device is
configured to provide continuous emanation of the air treatment
agent for 1 week.
16. An emanation device according to claim 3 wherein the power
consumption of the device is <1.5 W.
17. An emanation device according to claim 5, wherein at least a
portion of the pad is in contact with at least two of: the top
wall, the bottom wall and/or the side wall(s).
18. An emanation device according to claim 17, wherein at least a
portion of the pad is in contact with at least three of: the bottom
wall and the side wall(s).
19. An emanation device according to claim 11, wherein no
continuous area of any single vent hole has a radius greater than
4.5 mm.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to disposable electrical
emanation devices that are configured to be inexpensive to
manufacture and provide a user with a convenient means to emanate
air treatment agents into the surrounding environment for a period
of time before being disposed of and particularly, but not
exclusively, for the emanation of air treatment agents in the form
of air treatment agents such as fragrances, deodorizing and/or pest
control materials.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Devices are known in which a bottle of air treatment agent
has an upwardly projecting wick and a heater is located in the
vicinity of the upper end of the wick to accelerate the evaporation
of air treatment agent from the wick. The bottle, wick and heater
are retained within a housing which carries an electric plug. To
operate the heater the device is plugged into a wall socket.
Devices of this type commonly claim to allow control of the rate of
evaporation of the air treatment agents, for example, by varying
the distance between the heater and the wick.
[0003] Known prior art devices suffer from the drawback of
efficiency and convenience. Whilst these devices are capable of
emanating large quantities of air treatment agent they generally
use significant amounts of power, generally the heating element of
such a device has a power consumption of greater than 2 W, and are
not inexpensive to manufacture. Due to their inherent cost of
manufacture it is necessary to provide replaceable refills of
volatile to use with such devices. Clearly such devices are not
suitable for use as a disposable device.
[0004] Furthermore, since the associated manufacturing costs of
both the device and the replaceable refill intended for use with
the device are not inexpensive, such devices are not suitable for
use in many developing markets where the available household income
is unlikely to be sufficient to support the purchase and the
ongoing power consumption costs.
[0005] In addition, such devices are not suitable for use as a
trial product such that a user can sample the effects of the
emanated air treatment agent without necessarily committing to the
not insignificant costs of the prior art device and associated
replaceable refill.
[0006] The present invention intends to address the drawbacks
discussed above.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
[0007] According to the present invention there is provided
therefore an emanation device comprising: a housing defining a
sealed container having a front wall and a rear wall their area
defining length and width of the housing and connected to each
other by a top wall, a bottom wall and one or more side walls
defining the depth of the housing, wherein the length and width are
each greater than the depth; [0008] provided with at least one vent
hole in each of the top wall, the bottom wall and the, or each,
side wall; [0009] electrical plug pins connected to the rear wall
of the housing, said plug pins being operatively connected to a
heating means located within the interior of the housing; [0010] an
absorbent pad containing a quantity of air treatment agent mounted
within the interior of the housing; [0011] wherein the pad fills a
majority of the length and width of the housing; [0012] and wherein
the heating means is located in connection with or immediately
adjacent to a central portion of the pad on the front face thereof
where the front face of the pad is adjacent the front wall and
remote from the face of the pad facing the rear wall and electrical
plug pins.
[0013] Emanation devices according to the present invention are
advantageous in that they provide a planar device of a generally
shallow depth relative to how far the device as a whole protrudes
outwardly from a mains electrical socket when engaged therewith
during use. The location of the heating means on the side of the
pad that is remote from the rear wall and plug pins is particularly
advantageous as the pad is able to act as a heat insulator thus
ensuring that the safe operation of the device despite its shallow
depth without fear of the heat being transferred to the electrical
socket. Also, the shallow depth of the device further improves the
safety on the basis that the device will protrude away from the
electrical socket less than prior art devices and will thus be less
likely to be inadvertently knocked, bumped into or the like by
passing footfall.
[0014] Furthermore the inventors of the present invention have
realised that the prior art devices have been limited in the
orientation with which they can be connected to electrical sockets.
In particular, hitherto prior art emanation devices containing a
pad or wick loaded with or connected to a reservoir of an air
treatment agent generally held the heater toward one extremity of
the pad/wick to ensure convection airflow permits adequate
emanation. However, the inventors have realised further that
despite the prior art it is possible to produce a device that may
be used with an electrical socket in any orientation providing
there is no external reservoir and the pad contains the entire
quantity of air treatment agent and that the heating means is
located in connection with or immediately adjacent to a central
portion of the pad on the front face thereof such that regardless
of the orientation there will be uniform emanation of the
agent.
[0015] Advantageously, the location of the heating means in
connection with or immediately adjacent to a central portion of the
pad on the front face thereof ensures that there is zero to minimal
heat loss due to air resistance between the heater and the pad thus
ensuring that the device is energy efficient. Most preferably the
heating means is in contact with the pad. Preferably the power
consumption of the device of the present invention is <2 W, and
more preferably <1.5 W, and even more preferably <1.2 W;
hitherto prior art devices generally operated at >2 W.
[0016] The air treatment agent may be a volatile liquid, and
preferably a volatile liquid containing one or more of: a
fragrance, a deodorizing material and/or a pest control
material.
[0017] Historically prior art emanation devices were not available
for use in any orientation due to problems with air circulation and
condensation, the latter problem often being alleviated by
increasing the operating temperature of the heater but which
affects the energy efficiency. To ensure energy efficiency of the
devices of the present invention, the problem of condensation is
preferably overcome by at least a portion of the pad being in
contact with at least one of: the top wall, the bottom wall and/or
the side wall(s), and more preferably by at least a portion of the
pad being in contact with at least two of: the top wall, the bottom
wall and/or the side wall(s), and even more preferably by at least
a portion of the pad being in contact with the top wall, the bottom
wall and the side wall(s); and most preferably the pad being in
contact with all of the top wall, the bottom wall and the side
wall(s). The pad may be provided with one or more castlations to
facilitate the contact with the wall(s).
[0018] The device and consequently the pad held therewithin can be
of any shape, however, generally a four sided shape is preferred.
Electrical sockets, such as those used in the USA, are installed
which would permit a device with electrical plug pins to be
orientated in one of four orientations, therefore, by a four sided
shape is generally preferred to ensure that the device is aligned
with the electrical socket regardless of the orientation with which
it is inserted. Even more preferably the device may be sized such
that is it capable of blocking access to a standard sized adjacent
electrical socket when connected to a socket.
[0019] The pad is preferably made from a material possessing
absorbent, fire retardant and wicking properties, ideally the pad
is made from melt blown polypropylene. Alternatively the pad may be
provided by electrical conductive paper that has inlaid carbon to
act as heating means due to being an electrically conductive which,
upon an electric current being applied thereto, resistively heats
to initiate or increase the emanation rate of the air treatment
agent held within the conductive paper. In such an arrangement the
electrically conductive paper could be provided in a folded
configuration in order to increase the amount of air treatment
agent that could be held within the device. The housing is provided
with at least one vent hole in each of the top wall, the bottom
wall and the, or each, side wall. This arrangement provides a
twofold advantage over prior art devices in that, firstly, it urges
chimney-effect airflow through the device to drive the emanation of
the air treatment agent from the absorbent pad. Secondly the
arrangement reduces the likelihood of condensation regardless of
the orientation of the device during use. Preferably the vent holes
are located such that when the plug pins are located in a mains
electrical socket, the top vent hole(s) is located within the
uppermost 1/3 of the top of the housing, the bottom vent hole(s) is
located within the bottom 1/3 of the bottommost of the housing, and
the side vent hole(s) is located within the nearest 1/3 of the
side(s) of the housing.
[0020] Preferably the size of the vent holes is arranged to be
sufficiently large to permit emanation therethrough without a
build-up of condensation within the interior of the device and yet
not sufficiently large that they pose an insertion risk (i.e. a
risk of a child's finger or the like being inserted through the
vent hole into the interior of the device). Accordingly the vent
holes may be sized to extend at least 1 mm in any lateral direction
whilst possessing a minimum area of 2 mm.sup.2. Preferably to
substantially resist the aforementioned insertion risk, no
continuous area of any single vent hole shall describe a radius of
greater than 5 mm, and more preferably no continuous area of any
single vent hole shall describe a radius of greater than 4.5 mm;
and most preferably no continuous area of any single vent hole
shall describe a radius of greater than 4 mm.
[0021] The shape of the vent holes may also be relevant to ensuring
airflow and condensation reduction, specifically the vent holes
should not contain sharp or thin edges as such edges promote both
airflow reduction and condensation, rather the edges of the vent
holes should generally have a substantially rounded profile of
continuous or variable curvature.
[0022] Optionally, one or more vent holes may be provided in the
front wall to provide optimal airflow in case the device is
operated in a horizontal orientation when connected to a electrical
extension cable; the normal operating orientation being vertical
when connected to a electrical socket located in a wall.
[0023] In a preferred arrangement the air treatment agent can
contain a dye and the rear wall can be transparent or translucent
such that a user can notice the colour change of the pad as the air
treatment agent is emanated, thus providing the device with a
visual end of life mechanism.
[0024] Preferably the device of the present invention is configured
to provide continuous emanation of the air treatment agent for 1
week (7.times.24 hours of continuous emanation).
[0025] Any of the features described herein may be combined with
any of the above aspects in any combination.
DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT
[0026] An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way
of example only and with reference to the drawings in which:
[0027] FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of the emanation device of the
present invention.
[0028] FIG. 2 shows a graph of performance variation associated
with the location of the heating means relative to the absorbent
pad; and
[0029] FIG. 3 shows a graph of performance variation associated
with the presence or absence of vent holes in different
locations.
[0030] FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of an emanation device 1
having a housing 2 which is made up of a front wall 3 a rear wall 4
which is connected to plug pins 9 (partially shown), and a top wall
5, a bottom wall 6 and side walls 7,8. The device 1 is, compared to
prior art devices, generally planar and shallow wherein the length
and width of the device are defined by the area of the front wall
and rear wall 4 and the distance between these walls defines the
depth, the distance being made up of the top 5, bottom 6 and side
7,8 walls of the housing 2, such that length and width are each
greater than the depth.
[0031] A pad 10 made of a melt blown polypropylene is disposed in
the interior of the housing 2. The pad has a quantity of air
treatment agent absorbed therein. The pad 10 is shown as having a
series of castlations 11 on each edge which permit any air
treatment agent which condenses within the housing during use can
be re-absorbed back into the pad 10 via one or more of the
castlations 11 regardless of the orientation in which the device 1
is connected to a mains electrical socket.
[0032] A heating means 12 is provided electrically connected by
wires 13 to the plug pins 9 and in contact with a front face 14 of
the pad 10. The location of the heating means 12 on the front face
14 of the pad 10 ensures that the heating means 12 is located
remote from the rear wall 4 and plug pins 9 permits the pad 10 to
act as a heat insulator thus ensuring that the safe operation of
the device 1 despite its shallow depth.
[0033] Vent holes 15 are provided in each of the top wall 5
(partially shown), the bottom wall 6 and each side wall 7,8
(partially shown), each vent hole being located within the
uppermost, bottommost and nearest 1/3 respectively of the housing.
The vent holes 15 are sized to be sufficiently large to permit
emanation therethrough and to resist a build-up of condensation
within the interior of the device and yet not sufficiently large
that they pose an insertion risk (i.e. a risk of a child's finger
or the like being inserted through the vent hole into the interior
of the device). As the vent holes 15 may be sized to extend at
least 1 mm in any lateral direction whilst possessing a minimum
area of 2 mm.sup.2. The shape of the vent holes 15 may also be
relevant to ensuring airflow and condensation reduction,
specifically the vent holes 15 should not contain sharp or thin
edges as such edges promote both airflow reduction and
condensation, rather the edges of the vent holes 15 should
generally have a substantially rounded profile of continuous or
variable curvature. These arrangements reduce the likelihood of
condensation regardless of the orientation of the device 1 during
use. Although not shown, the housing 2 will be sealed to prevent a
user from accessing the interior of the device.
[0034] Although not shown, the heater and reservoir means 8 could
be provided by electrical conductive paper that has inlaid carbon
to act as heating means due to being an electrically conductive
material which, upon an electric current being applied thereto,
resistively heats to initiate or increase the emanation rate of the
air treatment agent held within the conductive paper. In such an
arrangement the electrically conductive paper could be provided in
a folded configuration in order to increase the amount of air
treatment agent that could be held within the device.
[0035] Turning to FIG. 2 a weight-loss study is shown in which the
position of the heating means is varied to determine the effect on
weight-loss of air treatment agent from the absorbent pad over time
in use of the device. It can be seen that the greatest weight-loss
is achieved when the heating means is located in a centralised
position of the pad, whereas the weight-loss is reduced when the
heating means is located at the side of the pad, and reduced
further when located at the top of the pad and reduced yet further
when located at the bottom of the pad.
[0036] Turning to FIG. 3 a weight-loss study is shown in which the
position and number of the vent holes is varied to determine the
effect on weight-loss of air treatment agent from the absorbent pad
over time in use of the device. It can be seen that the greatest
weight-loss is achieved when the vent holes are located at the top,
the sides and the bottom of the housing, whereas the weight-loss is
reduced when the vent holes at the bottom of the housing are sealed
shut and the chimney effect is removed/ameliorated, and reduced
further when the side vent holes are sealed shut and the airflow
through the device is removed/ameliorated.
[0037] Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any
accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by
alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar
purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly
stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a
generic series of equivalent or similar features.
[0038] The invention is not restricted to the details of the
foregoing embodiment(s). The invention extends to any novel one, or
any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this
specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and
drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the
steps of any method or process so disclosed.
* * * * *